Why Elizabeth is awesome

[theducks]

Part 20 of ∞

Wherein is it is my birthday on wednesday, to be followed by a wedding and honeymoon within the next 7 days, and wherein I am difficult to buy stuff for, therefore be thanks raised to her of giving me a Digital SLR for said occasion!

god save the queen!

The embargo was broken tonight accidentally while having dinner with pennae, but this means I can do some checks on pricing and options before we actually go and buy it. The Canon 450D kit with twin IS lenses (Digital Rebel XSi in the US) looks pretty awesome. Comments? :D It does mean a much bigger bag to lug kit around, especially if I get the twin lenses.

In other news, I did check out a Nikon P6000 on the weekend. It's an $800 12MP camera with GPS and an Ethernet jack. It's a pretty interesting concept, I must say. I was disappointed by the image quality, but I especially like the GPS bit. Oh well.

Squee DSLR!

I have taken almost 10,000 photos in the last 7 years with digital cameras (9960 according to my photo library..), and I'm getting to the point that I really can understand why a digital SLR is the way to go for me. Playing with Cameron's 5D and my uncle's 400D has really driven home the desire for one.

Comments

[dannipenguin.livejournal.com]

You have a broken link.

[dannipenguin.livejournal.com]

Also you need to take more photos...

Up to June 08 (with a lot missing from 04 and 05 it looks like):

$ find Documents/Photos/200[45678] |grep -i 'jpg$' | wc -l
10128

Who knows how many more I've deleted in that time.

[ilumiari.livejournal.com]

I've got the 450D, you're welcome to play with it if you want but I have different lenses (17-85mm f/4.5-5.6 IS, 50mm f/1.8 and Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8, I use the Tamron the most). I spent months looking into which camera to get and I'm really glad on the decision I made. I decided to get the 17-85mm lens instead of the two kit lenses but I haven't really used it since I got the Tamron. I'll probably sell it when I get around to it. Most of the reviews I've seen on the twin kit lenses are that they are definitely beginner lenses, and you'll probably want to upgrade from them fairly quickly.

[torque-635.livejournal.com]

I bought my D70 second hand with about 600 shots on it. Just checking my latest shot i'm up to just under 20k.

So yeah DSLR FTW. But that said i'm had to replace the SQ base plate earlier this year at about 14k shots.

I followed Packrat's lead and went the Nikon path. I found them easier to use than Canons, but its purely personal choice.

[pennae.livejournal.com]

Crumpler make great bags that aren't bulky... ;)

(And they're not electronic, and they're not money too!)

[theducks.livejournal.com]

Oooo...

[dannipenguin.livejournal.com]

I have two Crumpler camera bags (one is a backpack with laptop sleeve, top section and separate camera section). You're welcome to come and poke around in them.

[distantcam.livejournal.com]

For reference, when I leant you my camera for my wedding the bag was the Crumpler 5 Million Dollar Home.

[theducks.livejournal.com]

Speaking of your wedding.. we're getting drabbo to do formal photos + prep + ceremony photos.. would you be ok with doing photos at the reception? :D

[distantcam.livejournal.com]

No problem.

Woot!

[gaewyn.livejournal.com]

Good camera choice... and if you really want to play with lenses get the 75$ 5mm f/1.8. It is amazing that their cheapest lens is hands down the sharpest consumer lens they make and works well in low light also.

Great lens to have!

Re: Woot!

[theducks.livejournal.com]

EF 50mm f/1.8 II ? cheapest I can see it is about $120, but still, yes, pretty cheap :)

Re: Woot!

[gaewyn.livejournal.com]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/12142-USA/Canon_2514A002BA_Normal_EF_50mm_f_1_8.html

Got mine during the rebate season so... only 75$ during that.

[drabbo.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what the price difference would be between the two lens and other package deals - but I think you'd find the 55-250mm too slow for the kind of photography you might want to be doing with it. That being said, it's a lot of fun to play with.

The image stabiliser would be good, though.

Give it a bit of a test for motion photography if you can.. but if it doesn't cost that much of a diff ($200-$300 diff) then get it anyway :)

[silverai.livejournal.com]

Zig just bought a new Nikon something-or-rather that just came out recently to replace his current Nikon. He had a whole bunch of reasons why it was the best choice that his friend he was talking with agreed with. Apparently the closest rival was a Canon which had more $$ attached and wasn't necessarily worth the extra $$. He ordered it last week and it's due to arrive this week. I'll see if I can find out what model it was.

[melberon.livejournal.com]

The Nikon and Canon camera models don't line up exactly. The two Nikons closest in price to the 450D that Alex suggested (~$1500 with 2-lens kit) are the D60 (~$1100 with 2-lens kit) and the just-announced-two-weeks-ago D90 (~$1800 with lens).

Compared to the D60, the D90 has: much better high ISO (low light) performace; larger high-res LCD; direct buttons for most settings - ISO, white balance, metering mode, and a couple of others I can't recall; and will autofocus with older Nikon lenses that need a motor in the body rather than having one in the lens.

I'm not sure exactly how the current Nikons compare to the Canons; I do know that Grahame's D60 is smaller and lighter than Davyd's 450D, but don't know what exactly it gives up in terms of features. When I bought my SLR a few years ago, the Nikons had a much nicer user interface and general ergonomic 'feel' to them. The 450D seems a lot better than the Canons of a couple of years ago, but no doubt the Nikons have improved a bit too.

[dannipenguin.livejournal.com]

I think mine and Grahames are within 50g of each other.

Mine feels bigger because the lens barrel has a wider diameter. I don't know about actual displacement.

[distantcam.livejournal.com]

Err, I have a 20D, not a 5D (I wish!).

As for lens choices, IS only helps with shaking, but is still useless in low-light. Both lenses are slow (F-stop number) especially at the long end. The 18-55 is 5.6 at full zoom.

If you're planning on using this camera for travelling, my advice is don't take two lenses. You'll keep having to change lenses at bad times. I'd recommend taking a single lens and lightening your bag. If you don't mind non-canon lenses the Tamron 18-250 looks good (http://www.qualitycamera.com.au/product_info.php?cPath=253&products_id=4159) also there's rumours of an IS version from Tamron but I couldn't find it. If you prefer Canon They've just released an 18-200 with IS (http://www.dpreview.com/previews/canon%5F18%2D200%5F3p5%2D5p6%5Fis/)

A good place to find out more: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/index.php

[theducks.livejournal.com]

Wow, that Tamron lens looks pretty cool. Even the cranky people have good things to say about it. In that case, we might just get the body-only 450D + that lens

[dannipenguin.livejournal.com]

In my opinion, although fast glass is nice, IS solves a different problem. Being able to shoot at f/2.8 is great, as long as you want the depth of field that comes with it. IS isn't going to freeze-frame your subject, but it will perhaps allow you to get the depth you need.

I'm a bit skeptical of 18-200mm lenses. I feel like something's gotta give.

[distantcam.livejournal.com]

Re IS: I totally agree. They're both tradeoffs.

Re 18-200mm zoom: Up until the last few years I would have agreed with you. But technology marches on and now there are several 18-200ish lenses that are getting fantastic review. So perhaps they're not quite as good as a shorter L-Series lens from Canon, but they're good enough.